United States of America Wiki
'United States' History of the United States of America # The United States was founded by thirteen colonies of Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence. A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791. Throughout the 19th century, the United States expanded its territory across North America, coming into conflict with Mexico in the Mexican–American War and forcefully displacing Native American tribes. American expansionism also fueled tensions over African slavery and ultimately led to the American Civil War. The Union won the war over the defeated Confederate States in April 1865, and prohibiting slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment. However, Black Americans faced racial segregation and prejudice, especially in the American southern states. The 20th Century By the early 20th century, the United States emerged as a global economic and military power driven by the Industrial Revolution, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants, and rapid settlement and development of the American Old West. The United States participated in World War I in 1917 and ensuring Allied victory. The 1920's saw the women's rights movement, mass communication, and a period of prosperity. The so-called Roaring Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. After the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American government enacted Roosevelt's New Deal programs. The United States remained neutral during the outbreak of World War II until the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers. After the Allied victory in Europe against Nazi Germany, the United States developed its first nuclear weapon and used them on destroying the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; causing Japan, the last Axis nation, to surrender. America emerged from the post-World War II era as a global power and competed against the Soviet Union in the Cold War. The Cold War Throughout the Cold War, the United States developed a policy of containment towards the expansion of communist influence. America and its Soviet rival engaged in proxy wars, but avoided direct military conflict. The United States also engaged in the Space Race and became the first nation to land a man on the Moon. Because of anti-communist sentiment in the United States, various American people were accused of being communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government agencies. The so-called "Red Scare" began to decline in the late 1950's after changed public sentiment and the anti-communist trial verdicts were overturned or declared unconstitutional. In the 1960's the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum that ended racial segregation and allowing laws that made discrimination illegal and provided federal oversight to guarantee voting rights. American society was also polarized by American intervention in the Vietnam War and culminating in anti-war and anti-draft protests, and fueling the growth of the counterculture movement. The Business Plot of 1963 The plan to overthrew John F. Kennedy and his administration in 1963 was drawn up by George Patton IV, General Patton's son, Dwight Eisenhower, David Rockefeller, and John Edgar Hoover, former FBI director. The plot was to overthrew democratic President JFK and install a council of veteran officers, generals, businessmen and bankers to lead the US. Eisenhower supported the plot until early 1964 when the head plotters began talking of installing a fascist government. At this time, Dwight met with JFK and told him what was going to happen. The plotters were prosecuted on June 19th, 1964 and were shot. Later that year, Eisenhower was elected President and served until his death in 1969. The End of America Ever since the end of World War II in 1945, the United States had sought to become the sole remaining superpower in the world, aiming to control the globe's major energy resources and influence the direction of life in other nations. In the 21st century, this became more apparent as the Resource Wars raged between the European Commonwealth and the oil-rich states of the Middle East, the United Nations disbanded in acrimony, and the Soviet Union slowly declined. The United States found itself with no real rival on the global scene except the People's Republic of China, though it was economically and militarily behind the U.S. at first. However, the energy crisis of the mid-twenty-first century hit the United States harder than expected, compounded by the outbreak of the New Plague in 2052. In 2054, a nuclear exchange in the Middle East prompted the U.S. government to establish Project Safehouse, which was intended to create 122 underground fallout shelters that would save a portion of U.S. society from the ravages of nuclear war or an unstoppable global pandemic. But Vault-Tec, the leaders of this operation, used most of the vaults as social experiments to see the effects of these experiments on the civilians inside. Five years later, in 2059, in order to protect its Alaskan oil interests, the United States established the Anchorage Front Line, to defend its stockpiles of oil from potential invaders. In 2060, stockpiles of oil ran dry and the pursuit of the last underground reservoirs of petroleum emptied the U.S. economy. People pushed their cars around and the political pressure to research alternative sources of energy increased enormously. To maintain its status as a superpower in spite of the crisis the United States expanded the size of its military and commissioned a government defense contractor, West Tek, to create powered infantry armor, intended to replace tanks on the battlefield. This project eventually proved to be the salvation of U.S. industry, and, in the summer of 2066, the first crude nuclear fusion cell was developed as part of this research effort and was then adapted to civilian needs. Thus was the start of the "Atomic Age." This fact, coupled with U.S. unwillingness to share the world's last untapped oil field in the Pacific Ocean with other energy-starved nations, prompted China to declare open war against the United States and invade Alaska in 2066, initiating the Sino-American War. The initial Chinese campaign was successful, but soon Chinese and U.S. soldiers found themselves bogged down in a war of attrition, with both sides unable to gain any sort of meaningful advantage over the other. Even the mighty American T-45d power armor units did not tip the scales, as China's Crimson Dragoon units rampaged behind U.S. lines, disrupting the U.S. Army's logistics and transport. About a year later on October 23, 2077, at about 9:00am, the first ultra-nuclear bombs from China reached the U.S., landing in Massachusetts, Virginia, Alaska and California, erupting into the Great War. Energy crisis took a toll on U.S. citizens. The citizens became increasingly restless as the global and national situation deteriorated, throwing the country into turmoil. The U.S. Army was deployed into major American urban centers to contain riots in the year just before the Great War, leading to the U.S. Army firing on its own citizens in certain circumstances. 'The Commonwealths' Beginning sometime in 1969, the United States had an intermediate level of government between the 50 states and the federal government. The nation was divided into 13 commonwealths, the same year the Virgo II mission landed Americans on the Moon in July. The United States flag was changed as well to reflect the new political reality. Accordingly, the new flag depicted thirteen stars to represent the commonwealths. The commonwealths reserved certain powers that used to belong to states; issuing license plates and establishing preservation areas being among those seen. The states, however, still possessed a certain level of sovereignty within their commonwealth. Each state still had its own flag (although modified to show its status within its commonwealth), and state lines were still quite relevant. Additionally, a state was listed as the place of production on the package pre-War MREs rather than a commonwealth. It was hoped that the new administrative division of the country would help create legislation broad enough to benefit those states with common regional concerns, but narrow enough not to affect those states with dissimilar interests or political cultures, which would help the nation better meet the challenges posed by the Communist threat to U.S. democracy. In reality, it created even more political strife in the U.S. government, as commonwealths typically did everything they could to promote their own interests at the expense of other commonwealths. Post-War United States Despite it all, humanity survived the atomic catastrophe. The U.S. federal government managed to survive as the American Remnants, the only known remnant of any official pre-War government. Following the Great War, the American Commonwealths disintegrated into what became known as the wasteland. When land across the country eventually became less radiated and more habitable, survivors reestablished settlements and began new post-war lives. Latest activity Category:Browse